360 



appropriate times, of palletized, movable laboratory units equipped 

 for specialized oceanographic work. Such ships, procured simul- 

 taneously, and only slightly modified from standard commercial design 

 would provide low-cost and efficient interim replacements for some 

 of the older research ships. 



Attachment 3 lists the conversion or new construction of major 

 oceanographic research ships that we have supported during the past 

 several years. 



Under our national research program category, the U.S. Antarctic 

 research program has been continuing with great success over the past 

 several years. In fiscal year 1969 we hope to introduce submersibles 

 under the perennial sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, in order 

 to obtain temperatures and salinities, study the ocean floor, collect 

 specimens, and observe seals and fish behavior. This area of permanent 

 thick ice cover is not accessible to research ships or icebreakers. 



The research ship Eltanin will continue multidiscipline surveys 

 south of New Zealand and Australia to the border of the sea ice near 

 Antarctica. In late 1969 she will begin the first Indian Ocean crossings 

 between Australia and Africa, working south to the edge of the Ant- 

 arctic ice pack. Programs will include standard meteorologic and 

 oceanographic observations and special research projects, bottom 

 sampling, and biological collections. Geophysical equipment on board 

 will include a seismic profiler, a magnetometer, and a sea gravimeter. 



The new wooden research trawler Hero will begin work in Novem- 

 ber 1968 along the Antarctic Peninsula, emphasizing marine biology 

 and water circulation studies. Coast Guard icebreakers, now instru- 

 mented for more intensive surveys, will serve as platforms to investi- 

 gate areas of heavy ice pack, guided by information from weather 

 and navigation satellites. Sensors will be positioned near the ocean 

 floor to record salinity and currents automatically for long periods 

 of time. 



The ocean sediment coring program, which has been in the plan- 

 ning stage for the past several years, will increase our knowledge of 

 the oceanic crust of the earth by studying long cores of ocean sedi- 

 ments. 



Many segments of the scientific community have shown a great in- 

 terest in the ocean sediment coring program. The many studies which 

 have been proposed and which require drilling in the deep oceans, in- 

 cluding various abyssal features will help solve many major problems 

 of the origin and history of the oceans and consequently of the entire 

 planet. 



Sedimentologists, paleontologists, mineralogists, and geochemists are 

 participating in the selection of drilling sites and planning of the core 

 descriptions. The core material will be made available to all qualified 

 scientists for individual research. 



Our knowledge of the stnicture of the earth is based primarily on 

 studies of the 30 percent or so of the earth's crust that is above water. 

 Little is known about that portion of the crust that is off the continental 

 shelves. A series of studies on core samples taken at carefully selected 

 sites on the deep ocean floor should yield considerable information. 



